Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My real concern is that we begin to make progress on the issue. The Minister said it would have to happen on an incremental basis and we all understand that. We do not expect that 200 children will come together but we would like to think that young people would be able to come here as soon as possible. A number of us met with the volunteers to whom the Minister referred and they made it clear to us that the main concern of most of the children is that they want to go to an English speaking country because they speak English and we are in a position to offer that to them. We must be conscious of the vulnerability of those young people and the fact that they could be subject to trafficking. I am not sure whether the Minister knows if the French authorities know where all the children are at this stage or what information has come from the meetings and contacts with the French Government. Now that it is more than a month since the motion was passed, my aim in tabling the question is to ensure we do see progress. The issue is one to which I will return after the Christmas break.

See this speech in context